


angel of music

by DesertLily



Series: Whumptober 2020 [20]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, It/Its Pronouns for The Toy Soldier, Light Angst, TS needs a hug tbh, The Mechanisms as a family, Throat Injury, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, accidental injury, self-deprication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27125378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertLily/pseuds/DesertLily
Summary: The Toy Soldier loses its voice and begins to question its usefulness.
Relationships: The Toy Soldier & Raphaella la Cognizi, The Toy Soldier & The Mechanisms
Series: Whumptober 2020 [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946296
Comments: 6
Kudos: 75
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	angel of music

**Author's Note:**

> For the 'sore throat' and 'I know you're in there' prompts for Whumptober!

The Toy Soldier was proud of its voice. It allowed it to sing with the voice of an angel long gone and keep her memory preserved (even if it was the only one that could remember her). It had never had any issues before. The voice box was firmly stored away and the Soldier was almost blindly protective of it. There wasn’t a thing it wouldn’t do to keep it safe. After all it was the only thing about it that was truly  _ real _ . It was a real voice box that had belonged to a real person. It wasn’t just part of a game of pretend. Sometimes, it helped the Toy Soldier pretend! It gave it silly moments where it joined in with the others; where it felt real. Even if it did know the truth. 

It was obvious to it that its existence was nothing more than an elaborate show. It was exactly as its name suggested;  _ a toy _ . Why else would it always be so easily discarded? It was locked out, thrown out of the airlock, or just plain shot on the regular. As jolly as it tried to be, the Toy Soldier knew that wasn’t normal. It knew that wasn’t right. But it never mentioned it. After all! The Mechanisms were its friends! At least, they pretended to be its friends! It didn’t want to upset them. Besides, the Soldier knew the truth. It was most liked when it was singing; when it was using the angel’s voice. 

Its day had been going extremely well! Nastya and Brian had joined it for tea and it was in very high spirits! At least, it had been. The Toy Soldier was so used to the sounds of squabbling and fighting at this point that they never truly questioned it. Why would they? It was rare to go more than a day without the sound of gunfire being heard somewhere within the Aurora. The Soldier thought that was extremely unfair! Aurora was a wonderful ship that deserved to be treated with the utmost respect! Especially since any damage done usually resulted with an angry Nastya and Nastya was  _ terrifying  _ when she was angry. At least, that’s what it imagined terror would feel like. 

The Toy Soldier should have paid far more attention to the arguing before it walked into the kitchen. At this point, it had tuned out most arguing there. It usually concerned some petty dispute about cooking or Ashes once again setting fire to the kitchen. Unfortunately, this was one of the more unusual occasions. Tim and Jonny arguing wasn’t anything new nor was them shooting each other. Even the Toy Soldier being caught in the crossfire wasn’t anything new. What was new was it getting shot in the throat. 

As a rule, nobody shot each others’ mechanisms or damaged them. It was why Nastya was the least likely to be outright shot; her mechanism was literally her blood. It was the only thing keeping them all alive; why would they risk any permanent deaths? The Toy Soldier didn’t know what really allowed it to pretend to be Real but it was fine just…being. Instead, the others avoided shooting its voice box. It was the soldier’s most valued possession and they would at least grant it that decency. Though, it was still convinced it was just because the voice box kept it useful; gave it the ability to be a real part of the band! 

The shot to the throat didn’t kill the Toy Soldier but it did cause the room to fall into a deafening silence. Neither Jonny nor Tim moved a muscle. Instead, they just stared at the hole in its throat. They stared at its severed vocal chords. Jonny moved to step forward and his mouth opened to offer a response but it did not stick around to hear it. Instead, the Toy Soldier did the one thing it had always been taught not to do; it very promptly ran away. If it was real, it would feel panicked and scared and most of all; useless. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was never supposed to happen. 

Despite its lack of need to sleep or eat or function, the Toy Soldier had been designated its own room on the Aurora. It was nice sometimes. It let itself pretend to be alive! But there was no point in doing that anymore, was there? It found itself standing in front of the mirror in its room, reaching a hand to touch the splintered hole. The damage was done. No amount of wood could repair this. It was broken. Truly broken. And nobody wanted a broken toy. 

So it just sat on its bed. It wasn’t sure how long it sat there but it did not move and no one came to disturb it. Aurora tried to talk to it a few times but it no longer had any way to respond. It no longer had any feasible reason to keep pretending. Then came the knock on the door. Exactly three knocks in a very familiar pattern. Raphaella. If it could move its face, its smile would have widened ever so slightly. 

“TS?” Her voice was warm; gentle even. It was just as pleasant and pretty as always. She was the real angel here. She even had the wings to prove it! “ **_I know you’re in there_ ** **.** Can...Can I come in? Please?” When it offered no form of process, she slowly opened the door and stepped inside. There was something warm about her smile; nothing malicious as it was sometimes known to be. “Jonny told me what happened. Closest to upset I’ve ever seen him.” She snorted. 

The Toy Soldier tilted its head slightly. Why would Jonny be concerned? He had never shown much more than detested towards them. Though, it remembered Ashes once insisting it was his way of showing he cared. But that was silly. He had no reason to care about an old wooden toy. It watched as Raphaella moved to sit beside it on the bed. It was only then it noticed the box she carried in her arms. 

Raphaella reached for its hand. “It’s...not perfect but we have your voice recorded on albums and shows.” She slowly moved to open the box. “It’s definitely not the same as before but...it was enough to make a new voice box.” The Toy Soldier sat up a little straighter. “This one is more sturdy and I’ll be able to replace it if one of those idiots manages to break it again. I also made metal planting for the outside. Just to keep it that little bit more safe.” 

Acting on emotions it never really had, the Toy Soldier hugged her tightly. It wasn’t used to people actively trying to do things for it; to make its life better. But here Raphaella was, eagerly trying to improve the damage. It couldn’t help but think that it would perhaps make it a little bit more like the others! Not the same as it had once been but still whole. 

Raphaella gladly returned the hug, wrapping her arms around them both. “You’re family, TS, and family look out for each other.” If it had the ability to, the Toy Soldier knew it would be crying. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated or hmu @ desert-lily on tumblr!


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